A week or so ago our staff writer at Noisey UK, Lauren O’Neill, sent out this tweet. For those that don’t want to add another tab to the myriad of disparate expeditions currently branching out across their browser, it said “do u ever get that thing where u feel like a line in a song (words + delivery) has literally pierced u in the chest, like the physical sensation makes u wince?”, to which we all replied “yes, let’s write about it”.
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And so to this piece. It’s a collection of spine-tingling music moments from VICE UK staff members, in which we recount specific songs and the lines in them that make us feel good / bad / higher than God / alive. You probably have your own set of songs and lines for similar emotions. Maybe email them to us or write a letter or do something about it. Or just read what we have here below.There are a lot of stand out lines on Built To Spill’s “Car”. The one about learning what comet stars and moons are all about; the little part about wanting to get stoned on a breezy afternoon; the whole idea, really, of getting the night off from work to go on a long drive and figure out how the world works. My fav though? The elongated part about wanting to “see movies of my dreams”.“Car” is about yearning for the things we can’t have, and dreams are usually the closest approximation of that. Or, at their weirdest, they’re Leonardo DiCaprio and your mum having a fight in the kitchen of your second year university house. Whatever: the subject is irrelevant. All I know in this life is I want that shit on VHS. As Doug Martsch sings, “I want to see it now”. All of us do. The way this line is repeated over and over again only rams that point home. Please, @science, make it happen. Ryan BassilThe bit in "Wires" where all the instruments but the guitar drop away, and the singer blasts out "Running, down corridors, through, automatic doors" with a passion rarely heard in mid-2000s dad rock, and then all the instruments come back in – that bit makes my head and my heart swell. Why? Because, when we were 15, my friends and I all got really into that song, for some inexplicable reason. One Thursday afternoon we all skived off PE and bought a load of booze with a brand new "European Driver's License", drank it in the woods near school and sang along to that bit at the tops of our voices.
Built to Spill – "Car": “I wanna see movies of my dreams”
Athlete – "Wires": "Running, down corridors, through, automatic doors"
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I rarely hear that song these days, but if I do – in an HSBC waiting area or as Vodafone hold music – it reminds me of that time in my life, when the only stuff I had to worry about was saving up for ten bags and getting my report card signed at the end of each lesson. Also, it bangs. Anon (AKA, spin the roulette wheel on which VICE UK staff member is too ashamed to put their name to this really touching anecdote)On “Hard to Make a Stand” from Sheryl Crow’s 1996 self-titled album, she actually sings a variation on the lyrics: “And I say ‘Hey there, Miscreation / Bring a flower, time is wastin’” four times. It’s on that fourth go that I get the same overwhelming physical sensation every time I listen to it.There’s a millisecond at the centre of her phrasing of the word “Hey” where her voice embodies an almost transcendent purity. The tempo lulls a little bit, giving her time to make a meal of the syllable, and I’ve got to tell you, what she does with it is truly gourmet. Whenever I hear it – when Sheryl Crow makes that ‘e’ sound, the country tones in her voice shimmering – it fills me with a totally unexplainable warmth. It’s easily my favourite natural phenomenon: sunsets? Shit. Mountains? Cba mate. But the way Sheryl Crow sings the word “Hey” two minutes and 16 seconds into “Hard to Make a Stand?” Inject it into my motherfucking veins. I want to feel this contentment forever. Lauren O’Neill
Sheryl Crow – "Hard To Make A Stand": “And I say ‘Hey there, Miscreation / Bring a flower, time is wastin’”
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Frank Ocean – "Self Control": “I, I, I / Know you gotta leave, leave, leave / Take down some summer time”
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Wham – "Everything She Wants": “My God! I don’t even think… that I love you!”
As with anything George Michael sings, this is less about the words and more about the way he delivers them. Even though this song seems so euphoric from the outside, it’s really about being stuck in a shitty relationship, and the lyrics trace an inner dialogue in which he asks himself why he’s going along with something that doesn’t make him happy anymore.But then, for me, the real kicker arrives at 3:32 when he goes “My God!” as if the realisation has literally just hit him at that very moment, like a punch out of nowhere, and he can’t contain it anymore, “I don’t even think… that I love you.” You know when you say something and you only realise it’s true the moment you say it? That’s what this line sounds like to me. I’ve always found it so heartbreaking and visceral, but also super powerful in that way realisations can be. Like a mask has been lifted, the fog has cleared, the self deception breaks. And his voice sounds like silk. It’s unreal! Daisy Jones
Young Thug: "With Them": “I got cash in my pants”
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